Innocent but Deadly
by DragonFlame91
Summary: At only seventeen years old, Elena Hart became a SHIELD agent. She is well-known throughout the organization for her skills in the field and her close relationship with Director Fury. When Fury suspects deception in SHIELD, Elena is placed on the Bus, reuniting her with old friends. Among the new faces is Grant Ward, a hardened agent who clashes with her and has his own secrets.
1. The Hub

It was supposed to be a simple mission. In the middle of a flight over the Atlantic Ocean, she received information for a new mission through the computer panel. Reading through the files, she thought it would be an easy task but as always, Director Fury left out a few details. He seemed to enjoy watching her deal with the unexpected complications. Her latest mission was to retrieve a Chitauri gun, one of the many pieces of Chitauri technology left behind from the infamous Battle of New York. Though SHIELD retrieved most of the weapons, other government organizations and random people on the streets managed to steal some in the midst of the destruction. Since the incident in New York, SHIELD agents were sent all over the world to find these stolen weapons before they ended up in the wrong hands. There were already rumors of an underground science project that used Chitauri metal in filters for a serum, similar to the one used on Steve Rogers in the 1940s, to create super-powered soldiers. Organizations like Rising Tide, an anonymous group of hacktivists that leaked all kinds of classified information, made it difficult for SHIELD to operate in secrecy, inhibiting much progress in locating the missing Chitauri weapons or the scientists involved in this super soldier project without frightening the public.

Agent Elena Hart was sitting on a tattered black sofa that was covered in over a dozen beer stains and had a mixed, pungent odor of beer, urine, and other unpleasant smells typical in a college dorm. She was pressed up against the side of the couch by five other college students who crammed themselves into the small space. Her complaints went unheard, the already wasted students enjoying the party on a late Friday night. At just twenty-two year old, she was one of the younger agents in SHIELD yet she had more experience than most agents three times her age. Her young age allowed her to be sent on missions involving high school and college students since she could easily fit into the crowd. For her latest mission, she pretended to be a new student, named Alexis Gable, at the University of Florida. It was a renowned party school and she did not have trouble making friends and getting invites to the hottest parties.

Elena bit her tongue when the petite girl beside her, who sat partially on her lap, nearly spilt beer on her dress. The girl giggled obnoxiously, waving her hand as if it counted as an apology. After spending two hours at the party, Elena was reaching her boiling point, having to dodge drunk, clumsy students and the advances of horny college boys. As she moved her legs to avoid the fresh stain on the couch, she locked eyes with a blonde-haired boy her age. He was surrounded by a group of people praising him for his recent football win. Besides being the captain and star quarterback, he was also her target for the mission, Reese Danvers. On the way to the campus, Elena had read all of his background information. His father worked for the CIA, which smuggled Chitauri technology from the battle site. Reese was a popular student at the university with a perfect GPA, majoring in computer science, and a member of Rising Tide.

Behind his friendly exterior was someone very arrogant, cold-hearted, and rotten. He acted like the typical spoiled rich kid who got everything he wanted but if he did not get his way, he turned into a stubborn child. From the SHIELD files, she learned that Reese had been cut off from his trust fund after an intense argument with his father. Unable to cope with his reduced cash flow, he hacked into CIA security system and stole a Chitauri gun. He was offering to sell it to the highest bidder among the nation's enemies. To many, it would sound like an unusual case but Elena had seen this situation countless times over the years. Her original plan had been to appeal to a misunderstood Reese but the files left out that he was known for his exploits with girls and had an ego the size of a football field. By befriending his friends, gaining even more information about him, she changed her plan and decided to purposely ignore him. Her lack of attention only made him more interested.

When he flashed her a crooked smile, she immediately glanced down and stared at her nails, pretending to be bored at the party. She squeezed herself away from the couch, feeling a slight pain in her ribs from being pinned to the side for an entire hour. Passing by a beer pong table, she waited at the end of a short line for the keg. A red plastic cup, filled with cheap beer, was dangled in front of her face. Turning around, she saw Reese.

"You can just share mine," he offered.

"No thanks, Jake."

"It's Reese."

"Right. I'm usually good with names but I guess I don't care enough to remember yours."

Elena moved forward in the line. He chuckled, his hand brushing against her hip. She resisted the urge to smack him across the face.

"You're a tease, Lexi."

"It's Alexis to you. Only my friends call me Lexi."

"We're not friends? That hurts. I've been nothing but nice to you for the past two days. I even helped you find your classes. Why are you playing hard to get?"

"I'm not. I just don't want you."

"And why not? I'm good-looking, star quarterback and captain of the football team, popular, smart, funny...what's not to like?"

"Maybe it's your huge ego. Contrary to what you might think, not every girl wants you all over them, especially me. Go find some drunk girl to bother."

"All I want is you, beautiful. I am not leaving your side for the rest of the party. I'm going to show you how great I am and by the end of the night, you'll want me so badly that you can hardly look at me without having dirty thoughts."

If she did not need to locate the gun, she would be showing far less restraint. She imagined breaking his legs and giving him a massive wedgie by hanging him from the flag pole. Reese had not been joking about staying with her during the party. She used his persistence to her advantage, slowly getting him drunk. As he drank multiple shots, she would only take a sip and discretely dump the rest on the floor. He was clueless that her drunken behavior was all an act. When she began to loosen up, he assumed it was due to the alcohol. She poured two more shots of tequila.

"Why do I seem drunker than you?"

"Maybe you're a lightweight. What's the matter? You can't handle a little tequila?"

"Of course I can. I can even sneak it back to my room, past the RA. Come back with me."

"What if someone sees?" she asked, nervously.

He twirled a strand of her dark brown hair around his fingers. "You want to keep up the little innocent routine? We both know that you're a naughty girl. My roommates won't be back until much later. We'll have the dorm to ourselves."

"O—okay, but I don't want to take things too fast."

"Never. We'll just hang out and watch a movie," he said, his eyes showing his true intent.

Reese picked her up bridal style and carried her towards his dorm. He stumbled down the hallway, almost hitting the wall a few times. Once they were in his bedroom, he dropped her down on his bed and sloppily kissed her neck, his hands sliding under her dress.

"I told you not too fast. I thought you said we'd watch a movie," she said, grabbing his hands.

"We can make our own movie."

"Or we could play a game."

"I like games. How about one where I kiss until I find your favorite spot?"

"I have a better idea."

She sat him down in a chair near his desk. Searching his drawers, she grabbed a tie and used it as a blindfold around his eyes.

"I'm liking this game."

"It's about to get better. You're the dirty criminal and I'm the cop. I'm going to ask you questions and every time you answer wrong, I punish you," she explained, handcuffing his hands behind his back.

Elena turned on his laptop and blared loud rock music through the speakers. She reached into her purse and pulled out a small gun. Hiding the gun, she lowered the blindfold. Reese looked at the handcuffs, commenting that they felt real.

"Are you ready to start our game?"

"I think you'll be punishing me a lot. Don't hold back," he said, smirking.

She giggled. "Oh, I won't. First question. Where's the Chitauri weapon that you stole from the CIA?"

His smirk faltered. "W—what?"

"Where's the gun? I've read your file like ten times, Reese. You're so arrogant that you would hide it here because no one would think you're dumb enough to have a weapon in your room."

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the one asking the questions and remember the game. If you answer incorrectly, I get to punish you. Sadly, it won't be as enjoyable as you think. This can be done in two seconds if you tell me where you hid the gun."

"Screw you," he hissed.

Reese closed his eyes tightly when she pulled the trigger. Instead of a bullet, he was hit in the face with a clear liquid. She squirted him a dozen times. He spit some of it out, disgusted.

"What is that? It isn't water."

"I told you that I'm the one asking the questions. If you keep being rude, I'll squirt you again. Let me try to find it first and then we'll go back to my questions, okay?"

"Untie me right now. This can't be legal. You—"

"Shh, I'm trying to concentrate. You're not the first spoiled brat I've dealt with…you all have the same story. You fight with mommy and daddy, lose your precious trust fund, steal something top secret, and offer it to some nasty people so you can keep buying your expensive cars and travel to all kinds of exotic places for spring break. Without that money, you can't get the equipment to help your Rising Tide buddies," she said, walking lightly around his room.

One of the floorboards squeaked as she stepped close to his bed. She lifted up the loose floorboard, finding a rectangular, metal safe with a key hole and a code lock. Taking out her phone, she held it over the code lock and it became illuminated by a blue light. The code, 73235, was revealed on the screen.

"Where's the key?"

"Not telling."

"It would be a shame if I had to bloody up that handsome face."

"You can spray me for hours and I won't give you that key. My roommates will be back soon. They'll call the cops and you'll get hauled off to jail, you psycho bitch."

Elena punched him across the face. He gave a howl of pain and recoiled his head. Blood seeped from his nose. He spit out the blood that seeped into his mouth.

"You boke my nose."

"I what? I poked your nose?"

"I won't gib id do you. You're wasting your dime."

"Well, we have something in common, Reese. I like getting what I want but sadly, we both can't win in this situation. You're cuffed to a chair and have a broken nose. You're smart. How do you think this is going to end?"

"Bide me," he replied with a harsh glare.

"You're bringing this on yourself. Tell me where I can find the key and I'll stop. Keep quiet and you're going to get more than a broken nose."

For the next hour, Reese maintained his silence. He refused to divulge the location of the key, despite being hit by several punches. When that approach failed to yield any useful information, she resorted to non-violent tactics. She straddled him and unzipped his jeans.

"Dis is wad you're doing now? Bribing me wid sex?"

"That would be silly."

A bright white flash shined on his chin. She laid on his bed, looking through the photos.

"Wad are you doing?"

"I'm about to send pictures of the little twig between your legs to every single person on this campus. Have fun with your new nickname, baby carrot. I doubt the girls will be begging for your affections."

"You dink I care wad dese losers dink?"

"Maybe not but when I post the picture on every social media page of yours, along with a little message identifying it as yours, it's going to go viral. I also made some pictures of you and your jock buddies in uncompromising positions. You have five minutes, Reese."

"I'm nod falling for id."

"Oh, did I say five minutes? I meant fifty seconds. I sometimes have trouble reading numbers. It's forty seconds now. Tick tock."

Reese struggled to get out of the handcuffs. He grew visibly tense as she loudly counted down to zero.

"Ten…nine…"

"Stob!"

"What was that? Eight…seven…"

"De key is daped under de snow globe!"

Elena tapped the screen and walked over to his desk, which was littered with trinkets. Picking up the Disney snowglobe, she found a key taped to the bottom. She removed the key and tossed his phone onto his lap. Using the key, she opened the safe. It was filled with various computer codes, classified government documents, and a large, thin gun. She grabbed a duffel bag under his bed and placed all the contents of the safe inside, slinging the bag over her shoulder. While Reese whined about being untied from the chair, she slid a flash drive into his laptop. The flash drive downloaded any information related to Rising Tide and government secrets.

"Dere's noding dere."

She looked at Reese. "Did you say something?"

"You never dook a picdure. You lied."

"Very good, Reese. You have basic observational skills."

"You said you'd undie me."

"Actually, I said I'd stop hurting you if you told me about the key. I'm going to leave you here to teach you a lesson about stealing things that don't belong to you. You're lucky that I don't tell your dad about your little hacking activities. I had fun tonight. By the way, you were right that I wasn't squirting you with water. It was dog piss."

"Whad?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Yea. I thought it would be funny…well, it was to me. Good luck getting your buddies to hear you over this music and the party down the hall. I'm sure they'll be back by five in the morning. Hang in there."

Elena suppressed a smile, hearing him shout as she left his room. The hallway was crowded with students returning to their own dorms. She blended into the group, who were too inebriated to notice anything strange, and headed over to a clearing close to the campus. Seconds after pressing a red button on her phone, a jump jet became visible. She sat in the cockpit and switched on the control panel.

"Mission accomplished. Device has been retrieved. Orders?" she said, tossing the duffel bag onto the floor.

Words began to form on the panel with the following order: _Bring device to the Fridge then report to the Hub for next debriefing. _She put the jet into autopilot to give herself some rest. When she woke up, she was five minutes from her destination. She landed on the roof of the Fridge, a maximum security facility where SHIELD stored its most dangerous prisoners and objects. Consisting of a hundred floors, the only point of access was through the roof. Two guards stood inside the entrance.

"Identify yourself and state your purpose."

"Agent Elena Hart. Dropping off Chitauri weaponry."

The doors slid open and they followed her into the elevator. One of the guards pressed a button for the bottom floor. Agent Tyler, a recently promoted field agent, was standing by a door at the end of the corridor. She unzipped the duffel bag and handed him the Chitauri gun.

"Hate to see what the kid who stole this looks like now."

"I just broke his nose. He should be thanking me. Girls are suckers for a guy with an injury."

By the time she arrived at the Hub, it was already half past two. Her stomach grumbled from lack of food since the previous night. She received a new message on her phone. The debriefing was delayed until the next day due to the other agent taking longer than expected on their mission. She rolled her eyes, reading that the agent was Devin Moore. Like her, he was a level seven agent but he tended to do poorly on solo missions. Being on a mission with him was never a fun experience. Walking through the Hub, she realized that she stood out among the sea of black suits. She had not changed out of her outfit from the party, a very short, sleeveless black leather dress and black ankle boots. Her eyes narrowed at two boys around eighteen blatantly staring at her chest. Catching her eye, they quickly looked at the floor.

A young man in his mid-twenties, with a Scottish accent, attempted to push a cart of gadgets through a sliding door. The cart was wedged between the glass. He eventually slipped the cart through but then the door shut completely in his face. Shaking his head, he complained about the malfunctioning door and a faulty wiring system.

"In the Hub of all places. A monkey could do a better job with this wiring."

"Do you need help?" she asked.

"Yes. You can tell those incompetent mechanics that—"

Turning towards her, he stopped, his pale cheeks reddening. She stepped in front of the side panel.

"It's probably just the mechanics playing a prank. They mess with the wiring once a month for fun. I've seen enough of this thing to know what they altered in the system."

"T—the door's stuck."

"I guessed that when it wouldn't open. No worries. There's the problem. They changed the language from English to French. Their pranks get lamer every month. Ouvre."

The door slid open. "There we go. Don't tell anyone else how to fix the problem. It's a lot funnier to watch them try to figure it out themselves."

"Good thing Elena was here to help," she heard.

Elena smiled, seeing Agent Coulson. He embraced her in a fatherly hug. She had not seen him since he assembled his team. When she first heard that he was killed before the Battle of New York, by Loki, it was like a punch in the gut. Coulson was one of the first SHIELD agents she met when she was recruited for the Operations Academy and acted as her supervising officer. She pushed his shoulder when he commented on her unusual attire.

"I was dealing with the Danvers kid. Fury forgot to mention what a narcissistic twit he is…if I didn't need to get something from him, I would've broken both of his legs."

The rest of his team was staring at them with mixed expressions of confusion and curiosity. Elena only knew Agent May, who gave her a warm smile. May was known for being a very skilled agent, earning the nickname The Calvary after an incident in Bahrain, but in recent years, she worked in an administrative position. She was supposedly just the pilot on Coulson's team yet Elena doubted that she never got involved in combat. Coulson introduced her to the other team members. The young man she helped with the door was Leo Fitz, a genius engineer who was rarely seen without Jemma Simmons, a brilliant British biochemist. Their close parternship led to them being known as Fitzsimmons. The other girl, just a couple years older than Elena, was Skye, a former member of Rising Tide who was very skilled with computers. Coulson drafted her onto the team, despite her not being an actual agent. Director Fury was skeptical of the decision, thinking it was a risk, but trusted Coulson's judgment. The final member, certainly lived up to his name. Elena had heard rumors about the anti-social, stubborn Grant Ward. He was a specialist who preferred to work alone. From what she heard, he had the social skills of an enraged grizzly bear. Besides his cold demeanor, he was also known for his handsome looks, mostly his chocolate brown eyes and nice cheekbones.

"This is Agent Elena Hart."

Only Skye did not look shocked when Coulson introduced her. Elena was quite a well-known agent in SHIELD. Her recruitment alone was an interesting story. When she was only sixteen years old, she was recruited for the Operations Division by Fury himself. He had been on a mission in her hometown and she rescued him from an explosion. Being a fast learner, she figured out how to work his gun and managed to shoot the attacker in the leg. Fury was impressed by her skills and offered her a spot at the Academy. She was the youngest recruit for the Operations Division, especially among the women. Within a year, she graduated, earlier than most recruits, and by the time she turned nineteen, she was a level seven operative, working with other infamous agents like Romanoff and Barton. She had been part of over a thousand missions.

"It is such an honor to meet you in person," said Simmons, awestruck.

"You too. Your night-night guns are awesome," she replied, looking at Fitz and Simmons who seemed ready to faint when they heard she used their technology.

Elena was surprised by Ward's reaction. He was being oddly silent. She had been a freshman when he recently graduated so they never crossed paths at the Academy. Knowing his reputation, she wondered if he thought that Elena could not be the great agent from those stories. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Simmons whispering to Skye excitedly while pointing at her.

"Don't tell me you flew from that college to here without resting," said May.

"I had to go to Fridge first. I thought I'd at least get time to eat but I have another debriefing. Lucky for me, it was delayed because Agent Moron is taking too long on his mission."

"You two need to start getting along. I'm sure Agent Hand can give you some of the details on your own," suggested Coulson.

Elena tensed up, glancing around the corridor. "Hand is here? Where is she now?"

"In the debriefing room. I'm guessing you've met her."

"Yea and every time we meet, I'm not in what she calls 'standard SHIELD attire'. It's not like it's my fault. If she sees me, she'll give me that judgy face. I came prepared."

Reaching into the duffel bag, she pulled out a black blazer. She put the blazer on over her dress and looked at Coulson.

"Good enough, right?"

"Well, it's...not as bad. Pants or a longer skirt might help."

"I thought I packed—it's fine. It's not like I'll see her until tomorrow so—"

"Afternoon, Agent Hand," she heard.

Hand, a tall, statuesque woman with red streaks in her dark hair, was walking along the corridor with two other agents. Even without saying a word, she was intimidating.

"Not good, not good. If she asks, you haven't seen me yet. I'll be tricking some level four agent into giving me pants or a skirt. I can just call it an initiation. It was nice meeting all of you."

Elena hurried down the nearest corridor. She felt a twinge of pain in her ankles from running in her high-heeled boots. Entering the Operations division, she spoke with the newest batch of level four agents. Level four agents were rarely assigned dangerous missions and did not experience much combat in the field. It did not take much effort to convince the girls about the fake initiation. They were eager to level up and doing favors for a high-ranking agent was a good start. She changed clothes with the girl closest to her size, assuring her that the superior officers would not reprimand her for her non-standard attire. Instead of the leather dress, she was now wearing a short-sleeved white blouse, a black, single button blazer, and a mid-thigh length black skirt. Though she was dressed appropriately, she was sure that Hand would find something to nitpick, probably her boots. Sitting in the cafteria with a group of agents, they discussed the latest mission from the debriefing room. Ward and Fitz were sent to South Ossetia to retrieve a weapon called the overkill device. The device created sonic vibrations to trigger weapons and the separatists planned to use it to declare their independence. Their mission was to disable the device within twenty four hours.

"They'll need luck getting across that border. I remember how hard it was back in '08," said Cale, biting into a burger.

"Twenty bucks says that Ward throws the little scientist over a cliff before they make it back," joked Mack.

The men sniggered at his pathetic joke. It was not uncommon for the operatives, usually the specialists, to tease the scientists and their lack of combat training. Many agents disliked any mission that involved working with the scientists, due to their differences in tactics. On the way to her office, she passed by a group of agents dressed in full tactical gear.

"Um, what brings you to this restricted hallway so late at night?"

Around the corner, Simmons was having a conversation with Agent Sitwell, a man in his early forties. He was bald with a tanned complexion, light stubble, and glasses, dressed in the typical SHIELD suit. At the other end of the corridor, Skye was hiding behind the door. He questioned Simmons about the open wall panel. Elena stifled a laugh when she complimented his head. Simmons was certainly brilliant but a terrible liar.

"Are you on comms with someone?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Jasper."

Elena walked over to them. Sitwell's demeanor changed dramatically as he straightened his suit. If she was not protecting Simmons, she would have avoided him for the rest of the night. Sitwell was not even close to the top of her list of favorite agents. She hardly considered him a friend. Despite proving herself as a talented agent over the years, some of them, mostly men, only viewed her as a pretty girl. They focused more on her looks than any other attributes like her intelligence. On a daily basis, she dealt with their shameless flirting and Sitwell was among them, constantly hinting that he was attracted to her. When they played poker games during downtimes, a few agents, including him, tried to play a dirtier version that involved less clothes. She had gotten used to the cheesy pick-up lines and lame attempts at getting her on a date.

He cleared his throat. "Agent Hart, I didn't realize you were at the Hub. I thought you were still on your mission."

"Nope. I got back early. I was looking for you."

"You were?"

"I snagged two bottles of bourbon from a dorm. I thought we could have a poker game. With a few shots in me, I might be willing to play the other version you like, " she said, batting her eyelashes and playing with his tie.

"I'll uh make sure my office is empty. We wouldn't want someone to interrupt the game and break our…concentration."

"Good. It'll be better if it's just the two of us. I'll be in your office in ten minutes. Don't make me wait too long."

His lips twisted into a subtle smirk. As he left the corridor, Simmons repeatedly thanked her for her help. She had worried that Sitwell would get her in trouble for accessing the restricted panel. Elena followed her through the door.

"Was that all right?" asked Simmons.

"That was terrible. You are terrible at this. That was a total meltdown. If Hart didn't show up and save you, it could've gotten worse," said Skye.

"I'm not a good liar."

"Really? Didn't notice," said Elena.

"I panicked. He was—and I just—I don't like being a bad girl. Thank you so much, Agent Hart. I can't say it enough. Do you like sandwiches? I could make you one. My homemade pesto Aioli is quite good. Well, Fitz thinks so but I think you'd like it as well. Unless you—"

"Why don't you sit and take a few breaths? You look like you're about to pass out."

"Yes, good idea."

Simmons sat on a nearby metal bench, taking slow, deep breaths. Elena turned to Skye for an explanation. Accessing a restricted panel was not typical in the Hub. She assumed that they wanted classified information. Her first thought was that Skye was still working for Rising Tide and attempting to uncover some SHIELD secrets. Skye confessed that they were concerned for Fitz and Ward. She had seen the men in tactical gear and believed that there was something wrong with their mission.

"Are you going to tell Hand?"

"I avoid her like the plague so no."

"I know it was risky. Coulson said to trust the system but I have this nagging feeling…"

"I get it. I've done similar things when people I cared about went on dangerous missions. We'll keep it between us but no more hacking restricted panels. Be glad that I was the one who found you and not Hand. If it was her, she would've arrested you without a second thought. I'll keep Sitwell quiet too."

"Wait, you're actually meeting him?"

"If I don't, he'll know that I just said it to get him away from Simmons. Don't worry. We play poker, I tease him by losing bits of clothing like my shoes, he gets all excited, I start playing for real and win a bunch of hands while getting him drunk, and he blacks out, forgetting what happened during the game."

"Sounds like you've done this before."

"By now, I'm an expert at it. Here."

She handed an access card to Skye. "It's for the level 8 lab in the basement. I think it'll calm Simmons down if she's around science stuff."

After a quick stop by her office, Elena walked up to Sitwell's office on the third floor. Sitwell grabbed two glasses and a deck of cards from a cabinet. She silently shook her head at the dimly lit room. He showed no attempts at hiding his real intentions.

"For a second, I thought you weren't showing up."

"I was the one who found you. Of course, I want to play. Those college kids made me want to tear out my hair and I don't have debriefing until tomorrow, so why not relax with some poker?" she said, placing the bottles of bourbon on the table.

"We could do a little debriefing of our own."

"Not yet. Keep it in your pants. I'm not drunk enough to play that version."

Unlike Reese, she could not just pretend to drink the bourbon. Sitwell would easily see if she was putting on an act. She started to feel a bit tipsy after her tenth shot and agreed to play strip poker to make the game interesting. Choosing a different tactic, she decided to distract him by purposely losing at poker. She pouted when she lost the first hand.

"Damn it. I can't be drunk while playing this game."

"You know the rules."

Elena removed her hair tie, letting her dark tresses fall past her shoulders. "There."

"That doesn't count."

"You never said that before we started playing. What, you don't think it's sexy?" she asked, tousling her hair.

Each time she lost, she took off clothing like her shoes and bracelets. She shifted her focus as he became more intoxicated than her. The tables turned and he was the one removing his clothes. He spilled bourbon onto the table as he poured it into both glasses. She grabbed the bottle.

"I think we're done with this for tonight."

"I hardly feel it."

"You're going to make a mess . No more bourbon for you. You lost again. Take off something."

Sitwell pulled her onto his lap. "You could help. I'm having trouble with my tie."

"Really? That's the best you could come up with? I'll let you have one more drink. If you can finish it without any problems, I'll let you take something off me too."

Behind her back, she sprinkled white powder into his glass. It was disguised by the dark color of the bourbon. As he drank from his glass, his eyelids drooped. About a minute later, he was slumped in his chair, unconscious. She sat down at his desk and texted _Infilitration successful. Target asleep _to a secure number. The person on the other end replied that she should skim through the files for any strange activity. While Sitwell was fast asleep, she searched all of the files on his computer and made copies on her flash drive. She received a call from the secured number.

"Anything get your attention?"

"He's got a lot of meetings scheduled that aren't in SHIELD's records. A few are buried between authorized meetings. I also uncovered censored documents about Project Insight. He couldn't get these by himself. What would you like me to do, sir?"

"Bring the flash drive to me after you've completed your next mission. I want full surveillance in all those offices."

"Understood, sir. I'll have the surveillance up by the morning and all transmissions will be sent directly to your computer through an encrypted folder. No one will be able to access it but you and me."

"Good. Keep both eyes open, Hart."

Elena spent the rest of the night planting bugs in every office. She sat in her office, checking that the video feeds were functioning properly. Besides spying on the various agents, the bugs allowed her full access to their computers, including any sent or received messages. Around eight o'clock, she headed down to the debriefing room. She was dressed in black leather pants, a dark blue camisole, knee-high boots, and black leather jacket. Entering the room, she overheard an argument between Coulson and Hand. She was able to hear bits of their conversation through the glass. Coulson was angry that there was no extraction plan for the mission to retrieve the overkill device.

"You yourself have designed dozens of operations like this. You know how this works," said Hand, brusquely.

"Usually with an extraction plan."

"Barton, Romanoff, Hart…they never have an extraction plan."

"They know that going in!"

"Eavesdropping on Daddy Coulson, Bambi?"

Her nostrils flared, hearing that familiar grating voice. A boy, three years older than her, with well-coiffed dark brown hair, hazel green eyes, and a slight muscular build, was standing behind her. He was wearing the usual smirk that seemed to be tattooed to his face.

"Coulson isn't my dad."

"Right, you just wish that he was…because yours cared more about guzzling another beer than making sure you had dinner every night."

"What took you so long, Moore? I read the file for your mission. Six days? I would've had it done in one."

"Well when you have Fury treating you like a special star, it must be easy to get things done."

"Or you just can't handle solo missions. Maybe you'd be better demoting yourself to level 3. It's not as much work."

"Your neck looks a little crooked. Too much time spent laying on your back in Fury's office?"

Before she could retort, they were interrupted by Hand. She ordered them into the debriefing room. Their newest mission was to retrieve alien technology from a notorious criminal in Paris. The device had the ability to brainwash people to obey any commands. Hand would send them the coordinates later that night. She was well aware of the intense rivalry between Elena and Moore yet put them together as a team. The rivalry between them began at the Academy. They were in the same freshman class, despite their age difference. Elena already received attention from many students because rumors spread that she was recruited by Fury himself. Moore saw her as nothing more than a ditzy teenage girl. After she beat him in their first exam, he threatened that she needed to let him be top of the class or he would make sure that she did not survive the Academy. Their fights could become very volatile, to the point of physical altercations. Elena graduating three years early only worsened the animosity between them.

No matter how many successful missions she completed or even led, he did not accept her as a real agent. In his mind, the only reason she did well was because of her looks. He had spread countless rumors that she was having affairs with superior officers to achieve her level seven position. Elena thought he was the one who deserved to be ousted from SHIELD but he was a talented agent. Known for being quick on his feet, he had been given the nickname Speedy. His own nickname for her, Bambi, was meant to be condescending, as a nod to her harmless appearance.

Elena went out onto the landing bay. Stepping onto the Bus, she searched for Coulson. He was sitting in his office, his eyes on his badge.

"Am I interrupting important thinking time?"

"Of course not. I'm sure you heard that argument between me and Hand. My temper got the better of me."

"Don't apologize. Do that more often because it was awesome."

Coulson smiled, placing his badge on the desk. "I saw that you and Agent Moore are working together. I can already tell that you're not pleased."

"Far from it. Hand's doing this on purpose. She thinks if we work together on a bunch of missions, it'll get rid of the anger between us. I'm telling you this in confidence. If he somehow disappears on the return trip, you need to back me up that it was an accident. So when do you leave for the dashing rescue?"

"Dashing rescue?"

"Coulson, you're not going to leave those two to fend for themselves. You'll make your own extraction plan. You did the same for me when my first solo misson had no extraction…and I knew it when I read the files. It's who you are. I don't have to be at my mission until later tonight so I'm good to go. You're getting old. I'll handle any angry rebels."

"Oh, I'm getting old?"

"You can barely tell," she teased.

She followed Coulson out of his office. May, Skye, and Simmons were in the cargo hold, discussing their plan to help their teammates.

"You don't need a battalion for an extraction. Three can pull it off," assured May.

"Five's better."

They glanced up at Elena and Coulson by the railing. "You're in? I thought we all had to be level eight to discuss this," said Skye.

"We're not discussing anything."

May headed to the cockpit. Within minutes, the plane was in the air, flying towards the location of the overkill device. Elena sent a message to Moore, telling him to meet her there. The plan was for her to find Ward and Fitz and bring them to the designated pick-up point. As she tied her hair up in a ponytail, Skye walked over to her.

"Is it safe for you to go alone?"

"I've handled worse. Don't be nervous. I'll get Ward and Fitz back in one piece though I have a feeling that Ward won't like me saving his ass."

"Have you met him before?"

"No, but I've heard stories. He's not exactly the poster child for friendliness."

"Definitely not."

Reaching for one of the guns in a box under the bench, her fingers brushed against the cold metal. She placed the gun into the holster around her waist. The plane landed at a clearing one hundred yards from the building. Elena sneaked into the building. Fitz was standing at the top of the staircase, holding the overkill device, while Ward fought off a burly man with rusty chains. Another man crept up behind him. She tapped his shoulder. As he turned around, she shoved her palm upwards towards his face. The man staggered back, holding his bloody nose.

"I'm sorry. I can't let you do that."

He snarled and grabbed a metal pipe from the ground. Elena dodged his attacks. Avoiding another swing, she kicked him in the stomach. He doubled over, dropping the pipe. She balanced herself on one hand and wrapped her legs around his head, bringing both of them to the ground. After a couple seconds, he fell unconscious. Ward was now fighting two men at once. She grabbed the metal pipe and swung it at the scrawnier man's back.

"What the hell are you doing here?" said Ward, choking the other man with the chains.

"Helping. A simple thank you would be nice."

"I don't remember asking for your help."

The thin man lunged at her. She dodged his attack and swiped his leg with the pipe.

"Then the rumors are true. You're about as antisocial as they come."

"Well, you don't live up to your stories. I was expecting someone like May. I've seen scarier rabbits."

Their argument continued as they fought off the rebels. "Would you two stop fighting? I want to make it out of here alive! Hart, watch out!" said Fitz.

A man three times her size grabbed her from behind, lifting her into the air. He smelled heavily of whiskey. Throwing her head back, she headbutted him and flipped him over her shoulder. She knocked him out with a swift kick to the head. Ward was pinned against a ladder by the remaining rebel. He struggled against the man's grip, getting hit by several punches. Fitz kicked the man in the face and jumped down from the ladder. He looked surprised by his own strength.

"I just did that."

"Yea."

"Come on. Let's get out of here before we're blown to pieces."

She led them outside. The SHIELD attack was underway, with explosives being dropped on the compound.

"Where's your jet?" asked Ward.

"It should be here soon."

"Soon? What kind of extraction plan is that? Were you going to just bat your eyes at the rebels and hope they'd let us go?"

"I am like five seconds from kicking in your teeth."

"Can you reach them?"

"Guys," said Fitz.

"Why don't we find out right now?" she hissed.

"Guys!"

A dozen rebels circled the compound, pointing guns at them. Elena reached into her jacket pocket and tossed a circular metal ball on the ground. The ball released thick grey smoke. She grabbed her gun, clicking the safety off, and when the smoke began to clear, she shot at the rebels. Once the smoke completely vanished, she saw the rebels laying on the ground, holding wounded legs and knees. Fitz's mouth hung open in shock.

"That was incredible."

Though she took out those men, over a dozen more replaced them. Right at that moment, she felt a light breeze above her. The Bus was hovering over the compound. May reversed the engines and blew the exhaust towards the rebels, knocking them down with ease. The cargo doors lowered and Elena, Fitz, and Ward hurried onto the plane. Ward thanked Coulson for getting them out of the compound.

"Agent Moore is following our coordinates. He's about seven minutes away."

"Joy," said Elena, sarcastically.

She went into the bathroom to wipe blood off of her. Lowering her shirt sleeve to get the last of it, she spotted a nasty burn on her right shoulder. The burn continued up to the back of her neck though half of it was covered with concealer. She found a tube of concealer in her bag. Carefully, she dabbed it onto the scar, making it match her skin tone. She was startled by a knock at the door. Pulling on her sleeve, she tossed the concealer into her bag and opened the door, seeing Coulson.

"Everything all right? Did you get injured?"

"No. I was just wiping off some rebel blood."

"Moore's landed. He'll be down shortly."

"Do you think if I pushed him out of the jet, he'd survive the water?"

"Elena…"

"You're right. Even the sharks wouldn't want him," she replied, leaving the bathroom.

"Be safe out there."

"Always am."

Elena waited in the cargo hold. Fitz, Simmons, Skye, and Ward were in the lab, listening to Fitz talk about the mission. The girls laughed as he mentioned saving Ward from Russian mobsters.

"Agent Hart, are you leaving already?" asked Simmons.

"As soon as my lovely partner shows up."

"Well, it was wonderful meeting you. I hope we'll see you again."

Skye nudged Ward's side. "I think Ward has something to say to you too."

Ward looked like it physically pained him to speak to her. He let out a frustrated sigh.

"You did—good at the compound. It was good that you were there to back us up. It wasn't necessary but—"

Elena crossed her arms. "When I got there, you were getting your ass kicked."

"I was not."

"You could barely handle two guys on your own. You're telling me that you could've taken all of them on by yourself if I never showed up? I highly doubt it."

"I would've handled it. If anything, you're the reason that it took so long to get out of there."

"Excuse me?"

"Heh, this isn't going how I thought it would at all. What Ward means, in his own twisted way, is th—" started Skye.

"If anything, Agent Broody Pants, you were the one slowing me down."

He scoffed. "_I _slowed _you _down?"

"You heard me. Fitz was there. He saw the whole thing. Tell Broody Pants here that without me, you two wouldn't have made it out of there."

"Please don't get me involved," said Fitz, shaking his head.

"Aw, why is little Bambi angry?"

Her fists clenched. Moore was at the bottom of the staircase. He looked amused by the tension between her and Ward.

"Finally, Moron. I thought it would take you six days to get down here. Get out of my way. I'm flying the jet."

"The hell you are. I'm—"

She kicked him roughly in the kneecap, fracturing it. He winced and leaned against the railing.

"I have seniority over you. If I say I'm flying the jet, then I am. You two should start your own organization…Agents of Ungrateful Jackasses."

"I am so tossing you into the ocean to be fish food," she muttered to Moore, passing him on the staircase.

"What did you say?"

"What are you going to do? Hobble after me? Try to keep up, _Speedy_. I'll gladly fly the jet with you hanging onto the door."

Elena waved at the others and walked up to the jet. Sitting in the cockpit, she waited for Moore to limp onboard. She picked up her laptop and typed in a special code. Video feeds popped up all over the screen. On the far right, the screen showed Coulson's team in the lab. Skye and Simmons were throwing disapproving looks at Ward. Simmons explained that it would have been polite to thank Elena for her help at the compound. The scene shifted to Coulson and May in his office, discussing a redacted file related to Skye. Hearing a door close, along with angry muttering directed towards her, she shut the laptop, hiding it in her bag, and flew the jet towards the intended destination…


	2. A Ghostly Encounter

In this world, there was a long list of impossible things: exceeding the speed of light, counting to infinity, bench pressing a million pounds, proving the existence of unicorns (though Elena would fight people on that last one until her dying day). Another impossibility was that Elena Hart and Devin Moore could have a relationship that even remotely resembled a friendship. It was a well-known fact that spending hardly a minute alone together resulted in arguments that rivaled the Battle of New York in intensity. The senior agents, mostly those who were deluded in thinking that this rivalry could be resolved, purposely placed them on missions that required good communication and teamwork. Three long years of working together only provided more ammunition for both sides in their constant fights. Agent Hand refused to accept that them being civil to each other was a hopeless cause. Both agents could return from a mission with bruises, inflicted by the other instead of the actual enemy, and she brushed it off as though it was a spat on the playground. Elena heard the same lecture after every mission with Moore: _ Be mature and move past this childish nonsense. You're agents, not preschoolers_. She had Hand's lecture memorized down to the facial expressions, to the point that she could recite it in its entirety in her mind.

After their most recent mission to Paris, retrieving alien mind control devices, they were given the same lecture not by Hand, but by Fury. As they were reprimanded by the imposing SHIELD Director, they stared back at him silently, covered in shallow cuts and bruises. They would have been commended for their bravery in the field if their injuries were from fighting criminals instead of their partner. On their way back to the Hub, Moore goaded her by commenting that the ex-con who possessed the alien device likely reminded her of her father. His taunts earned him a swift elbow to the face, leading to one of their usual fights. When the jet landed at the Hub, they were discovered by a few ramp agents, Elena having Moore in a chokehold as he attempted to scratch at her face. To say that Hand and Fury were displeased with their behavior would be an understatement. Judging by the severity of their injuries, Elena was the winner of the fight. Though Fury warned both of them that another incident would cause them to be demoted to level three, he was far more gentle with her in private, knowing that Devin had a tendency to push her to her breaking point.

Elena was sitting in Fury's office at the Triskelion, playing a game of solitaire on his computer. She winced as she reached for the mouse, feeling a slight pain in her shoulder. Lowering her sleeve, she examined a greenish-purple bruise from Devin slamming her into the floor of the jet. Her body was still healing from its injuries, two weeks after the confrontation.

"Need to go to the infirmary?"

Fury shut the door, a stack of folders tucked under his arm. She shook her head, commenting that the bruises gave her more incentive to beat Moore into a coma the next time he made the mistake of insulting her. He placed the files in front of her.

"These are all the suspects?"

"Based on your data collection so far. I've got Romanoff and Barton scoping out most of them. Thought some spy work would be relaxing compared to fighting off aliens and an Asgardian hellbent on world domination."

"I'm still bitter that you didn't let me help out in New York."

"You'll get your chance some day. I'm sure it's not the last time we'll see that bastard. Romanoff told me to keep you out of there. Why do you think I gave you that sudden mission in Morocco?"

Elena flipped through the top folder. "Of course she did. She wants to spoil my fun ever since what happened in Budapest."

"Coulson and Hill told me the same thing. You really think I'd let you near that city? You're young. Maybe ten years from now or even tomorrow, some other psycho alien could fly down to take over the world. If that happens, I'll let you be on the front lines."

"A little less bitter now. You got a call from the Fridge while you were gone. The Berserker Staff is in the basement, guarded with heavy security at all times."

"Good. We don't need that falling into the wrong hands. You'll be meeting Coulson at a hotel in Dublin. A group of level four agents are heading that way and can drop you off. You remember what we discussed?"

"Yes, sir."

Over the past month, Fury's suspicions rose about traitors within the organization. Elena was tasked with setting up cameras in offices throughout all of their bases of operations, from the Hub to the Sandbox. She downloaded any possible intel, sending the information directly to Fury's computer. Concerned that a traitor could be among the members of Coulson's team, Fury ordered her to become its newest member. Coulson himself was unaware of her true intentions, thinking that SHIELD wanted another skilled agent on the Bus while also preventing another fight between her and Moore.

Fury would maintain constant communication with her. If she identified any traitors on the plane, it was her job to subdue them and bring them to the Triskelion. Besides Elena, only Hill, Barton, and Romanoff were aware of his suspicions. He handed her a new phone. It had a secured line only accessible by the five of them, allowing him to send them any updates on his progress. He hoped to be proven wrong, that it was simply paranoia, but there was a stack of evidence that did little to ease his worries.

Elena left the office to meet with the level four agents. She stepped into the nearest elevator.

"Landing bay."

A hand gripped the left door, keeping the elevator open. Garrett was standing in the hallway, bundled up in a black turtleneck and matching jacket with the SHIELD logo on one sleeve. Elena first met Garrett through Coulson during her first week of training with him. Like her, he was a level seven agent though one of the senior members of SHIELD. He was considered a top agent in the field despite his age. She had been on several missions with him and soon learned that he tended to exaggerate his stories.

"I was hoping to find you, scamp. I was meeting with Secretary Pierce and heard you were running around here," he said, grinning.

"Just stopped by to visit Fury. He wanted to make sure I'm staying away from Moore so we don't have a repeat of the Hub incident"

"You two still going at it?"

"When he learns to keep his mouth shut, I won't have to beat him up every time. Sadly for him, that day will never come. We've got a better chance of finding a cow that craps gold"

He chuckled. "You might be right about that. Are you in a hurry? Since you're here, you can get that new chip."

She looked at him, strangely. "Chip?"

"Fury must have forgotten to mention it. He's been pretty busy lately. The scientists down in the lab invented a way to send our missions right to our heads. No need to work with those pesky computers. Easier to get it now than having to fly back here in a couple weeks."

"I uh guess so. Every agent is getting it?" she asked as he entered the elevator.

"It's a trial run so they wanted to test it on some of the best agents. You easily made the list."

The elevator brought them down to the research labs. She could not recall ever hearing about an experimental chip. Garrett opened the door to the last lab on the right. The lab was stocked with all kinds of machines and equipment. He explained that the procedure involved implanting a chip into the neck. Through the chip, information on their latest missions was sent to a specific agent, appearing as writing in mid-air. It meant that they could receive their missions, even if there was a malfunction with their phones, computers, or control panel on the jets. While he left to find a scientist to perform the procedure, she paced around the lab. She examined the various machines, some that reached the ceiling and others tinier than the size of her hand. Her eyes rested on wires connected to a circular device with strange etchings. Reaching into her jeans pocket, she pulled out a pack of gum. She chewed a piece, feeling a tingling sensation in her head. Garrett returned with an elderly man in a lab coat. The scientist had her sit in a reclining chair and locked metal restraints around her arms and legs. Garrett stood beside the chair, assuring her that the procedure was quick and painless.

Elena watched as the scientist sterilized a syringe and placed it into a vial of clear liquid. Pulling the plunger, he filled the syringe with the liquid to the very top. The liquid was an anesthetic to facilitate implanting the chip. Garrett poured rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball, dabbing it on the right side of her neck. She held back a wince when the needle pierced her skin. In an instant, her neck felt completely numb. The circular device emitted a faint humming noise. Each of the markings glowed silver in a repeating pattern. The scientist placed a barely visible chip on the device. For a moment, she thought it radiated the same silver glow. He made a small incision in her neck and inserted the chip under her skin. The humming ceased, the device looking like nothing more than a frisbee. A bandage was used to cover the incision. Garrett nodded at the scientist, who left the room without saying a word.

"See? Told you it was painless. The numbness will wear off soon."

"I feel like I can't even turn my head."

"Let's just cover up that little bandage," he said, pushing her hair forward to hide the incision.

"So when do I know if it worked?"

"We can test it now. Raise your right hand."

Almost immediately, her right hand was in the air. It felt like she had no control over her actions. He smirked, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"I was a little worried that it might not work on you, Hart. Good thing I had Fredericks up the dosage."

"Why did that happen? It was like I—you said to do that and I did it without thinking."

He cupped her face in his hands. "Don't worry your pretty little head. You're going to be part of the new world order. I'll tell Sitwell not to have too much fun with this. Can't have Fury getting suspicious."

"About what?"

"You're going to forget everything that happened after you left Fury's office. Go down to the landing bay. We'll see each other soon. Say hi to Coulson for me too."

Elena jumped down from the chair. Taking the elevator down to the landing bay, she was greeted warmly by a woman in her early thirties, one of the level four agents. The flight to Dublin took nearly seven hours. It seemed to last longer because of the fangirling from the agents over being in such close proximity to her. She dealt with endless questions about agents she worked with in the past and several missions. By the time they landed beside the Bus, it was already the morning. She found Coulson, Simmons, Skye, and Fitz eating breakfast at the hotel. Sneaking up behind Coulson, she grabbed a piece of bacon from his plate.

"Six years and you still steal food," he said, shaking his head.

"Shring ifz cring. Oh, Garref saf hi" she replied, her mouth full of bacon.

"I'll remember to look for him next time I'm at the Triskelion."

"You understood that?" asked Skye, surprised.

"I've had a lot of practice. Fair warning, she likes to pick off of other people's plates."

"Miss?"

Turning around, she was face to face with a hotel employee. The middle-aged man questioned if she was a guest at the hotel.

She scoffed. "Of course I am. I lost my key but you've got it, don't you, babe?"

Her arms wrapped around Simmons's neck from behind. Simmons tensed up, aware that she was a terrible liar.

"Show him our key."

"Y—yes, the key…" she stuttered, digging through her bag.

Elena grabbed the key from inside her coat. She showed it to the employee, who apologized for the inconvenience. As he left the room, Elena sat on the other side of Skye.

"You could've just used Fitz. You know that Simmons can't lie."

"Better to use another pretty girl for a distraction," said Elena, making Simmons blush.

She was curious why Ward and May did not join the team for breakfast. Skye joked that Ward needed to work on his brooding stare while May was likely chopping tables in half with her fist. In the middle of their meal, Coulson and Elena received messages on their phones about a possible addition to the Index. The Index was a short list of people and objects with special powers. When a supposedly gifted individual was discovered, SHIELD agents were sent to discuss their abilities with them. They returned to the Bus for more information on the newest candidate. Hannah Hutchins, a young woman, was presumed to be the cause of many accidents in the small town of Batesville, Utah. She had been involved in a particle accelerator incident that claimed the lives of four workers and as a result, Hutchins became a social outcast. Fitz and Simmons contacted the Department of Energy to discuss entering the site of the explosion.

The screen in Coulson's office showed a picture of Hutchins, along with some background details. It was suspected that she had telekinetic abilities. The most recent event connected to her was an explosion at a gas station, after Hutchins was harassed by the store attendant. SHIELD rarely believed in psychic abilities, such as telekinesis and mind reading. Despite never having any verified individuals with those gifts, Elena thought it was silly to disregard the idea when there were aliens from other worlds and people with much stranger abilities. The team was ordered to conduct an assessment on Hutchins.

"I'm with you, Skye. Anything is possible. Once we prove that someone can do stuff with their mind, it's one step closer to me proving the existence of unicorns," said Elena.

"Unicorns?"

"Hey, if we can have creepy blue aliens open an interdimensional portal to our world? We can have some horses with horns on their heads. "

Skye looked up an article on the particle accelerator explosion. Hutchins was the manager on duty at the time and the town, a closeknit church community, blamed her. The Department of Energy denied access to the lab but Fitz believed that they could retrieve data through the machines without entering the lab. With the data, they would perform an analysis to determine a possible connection between the explosion and Hutchins' new abilities. They stared at Coulson when he spoke in science jargon.

"I'll try not to mention big bangs when we talk to Hutchins about the explosion," said Skye.

"Just be glad he's not going on about his Captain America collection. That could last for days" whispered Elena, thinking of how Coulson loved to show off his trading cards.

"Skye, you'll stay in the car. This is a delicate situation. We don't know what kind of danger this woman poses so I'll make initial contact with Agents Hart, Ward, and May. They're used to these kind of cases," explained Coulson.

May appeared at the top of the staircase. She told them that the plane would be ready to leave in five minutes. As she headed towards the cockpit, Skye commented on the delicate situation with Hutchins, referring to May and Ward as warm and fuzzy.

"Warm and fuzzy sounds too cute. I'd go with Ninja and Broody Pants," said Elena.

Ward was walking through the cargo doors. He tensed up, seeing Elena.

"I see you're here already."

"So observant, Broody Pants. How are you not the head of SHIELD yet?"

She blocked his path on the staircase. After Coulson was no longer in view, she crossed her arms. Ward attempted to move past her but she slid in front of him.

"Dial it down."

"What?"

"That 'I just had sex' face. For an agent, you're not very discrete."

He scoffed. "What are you—I haven't…that's insane."

"You are as bad at lying as Simmons. I know that face."

"I doubt it and you're wrong. This is just my face, Hart."

"I'd believe that but your fly is down and your shirt is misbuttoned. A for effort, champ. If you'd like to tell me all about it, go ahead. I want to send that poor girl flowers. Who knows how you managed to get her to so much as talk to you?"

It was his turn to block her path. Due to his tall stature, she had to glance up at him.

"You think you're so clever but you're not. You're a bad liar too."

"Am I?"

Ward suspected that she had a secret agenda for joining the Bus. When Coulson first told them about their newest member, he claimed that Elena was added to the team because of her skill in the field. Elena did not even flinch when Ward suggested that there was an ulterior motive to Fury's decision. She had a reputation for working on solo missions or with the top agents in the organization. Being assigned to a ragtag team seemed like a strange choice. They were standing by the door to the briefing room.

"You're right, Ward. I'm not here because Fury thought you needed another field agent. I asked to be put on the team."

"To be close to Coulson?"

"No, for someone else. Ever since I met them at the Hub, I haven't been able to stop thinking about them. Those pretty brown eyes that could make someone melt…"

He looked taken aback as she stepped closer to him. She tugged on his shirt collar, bringing him down to eye level. Her nose brushed lightly against his, little more than an inch of space between them.

"Simmons is just so cute, isn't she?"

She giggled, letting go of his shirt. He scowled.

"I know you're lying."

"Think what you want, Ward. I'm only here to help. Obviously, Fury didn't think you were enough to protect the team. By the way, you're pitching a pretty big tent."

Elena tapped the side panel, opening the door to the briefing room. Coulson was in the middle of discussing the gas station explosion with the team.

"Ward, are you feeling okay?" asked Fitz, noticing a light blush in his cheeks.

"Great," he muttered.

He leaned against the wall, keeping his distance from her. She suppressed a smirk and listened to Coulson discuss how to best handle Hutchins. Their approach was to be gentle and offer protection from the townspeople. Growing up in a similar community herself, Elena knew that some people could act judgmental and jump to conclusions. When they arrived in Batesville, the team went their separate ways, Fitz and Simmons heading to the lab with a couple agents and the rest driving towards Hutchins' home. A large crowd was gathered in front of the house, arguing with police officers. Seeing the scene in front of her, she snapped her leather bracelet against her wrist. Coulson caught her eyes in the mirror and gave her a reassuring glance.

"This doesn't look good," said Skye.

"Stay in the car. We'll bring Hutchins back with us. It's better to talk to her in private than in front of all these people."

The crowd wanted her arrested for the gas station incident. Hutchins was standing on her front porch with an officer, looking distraught. Moving through the crowd, Elena, Coulson, Ward, and May showed their badges to the officers. Elena stayed behind with May in case the crowd became unruly.

"It would be bad if we just knocked them all out, right?" she whispered to May.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. We'll leave as soon as Coulson gets the girl."

An egg flew past May's head, striking the door. She caught the next egg in mid-air. The culprit was a slightly overweight man in his early thirties, hiding an egg carton under his jacket. Elena snatched the carton from him. She noticed that some of the men had guns in their pockets.

"That's it. All of you need to leave."

"You can't tell us what to do. Who even are you people? Are you cops? You look like you're still in high school," said the egg thrower.

"I might be the girl who dumps these eggs on your head if you don't get out of here and stop harassing this woman. Why don't you go home and fuck your ditzy housewives with your puny dicks for five minutes, if you can even last that long, and then lay around on the couch while she makes you a sandwich because you're too damn lazy to do it yourself?"

"Elena," whispered May, cautiously.

A woman, who towered over Elena, got in her face. "Well, some of us don't have that little appendage."

"You can stay if you like but if you try anything stupid, I might have to break an arm or a leg. Go do your chattering somewhere else, you vultures."

Suddenly, a police car sped towards the house. Elena, May, and the two police officers quickly moved people out of the way. It crashed into a light pole and stopped in the front yard. Elena helped two teenage girls up from the ground. The officer on the front porch pointed his gun at Hutchins. Ward spoke to him calmly, telling him to lower the gun. Another officer, around the same age as Elena and the youngest of the three, took out his gun.

"I would seriously put that down."

"Y—you saw what she did."

"You have three seconds to lower the gun."

"N—no way. She—"

"Three."

Elena elbowed him in the stomach. He dropped the gun, bent over in pain. Grabbing the gun, she emptied the cartridges.

"Forgot to mention that my number system leaves out one and two."

She was distracted by the sound of a gunshot behind her. May had shot Hutchins with a night-night pistol. The woman fell unconscious upon impact. Ward carried her over his shoulder and placed her in the backseat of the car with him, Elena, and Skye.

"I can't believe she did that," said Skye in disbelief.

"We needed to calm her down, Skye. These abilities are usually tied to strong emotions. It could've been a lot worse than a speeding police car."

Elena stuck a syringe into Hutchins' upper arm and drew blood. "What are you doing?"

"Sometimes, a gifted will have something abnormal in their cells. It could be a huge difference or nearly invisible. The explosion might have altered her DNA in some way to give her telekinesis. Fury taught me it's good to explore every possibility."

Returning to the Bus, Elena walked into the research lab. She set a drop of blood from the vial in the middle of a glass slide. Laying down a cover slip, she put the slide under a microscope. She peered through the lens, searching for any abnormalities in the blood. An hour later, she found nothing that would explain the sudden telekinetic abilities. She walked into the briefing room. Ward was watching Coulson and May speak to Hutchins in the Cage, a holding cell. Hutchins had tears trickling down her face.

"I'm guessing it's not going great in there."

"Hutchins is confused. She doesn't understand that she's causing these accidents."

"Or she's not. I checked her blood. All of the samples look normal. She's just an average person."

"You were there when the car moved, Hart."

"Yea, she was upset and the car moved on its own. What if it isn't her doing it though? Maybe the accelerator created a shield around her after the explosion."

"Like a protection?"

"And it's making these things move when she experiences a strong emotion like fear. I've seen a lot crazier over the years."

"We'll have to wait for FitzSimmons and their analysis of the equipment."

Hutchins denied that she was causing the incidents both at her home and the gas station. Her voice quivered with fear. Instead of acquiring abilities from the explosion, she believed that God was punishing her. She blamed the accidents on demons. Listening to her, Elena snapped her bracelet under the table.

"If you keep doing that, you'll get a bruise," said Ward, glancing at her already red wrist.

"It's a habit."

Failing to find any change in her blood, it was up to Fitz and Simmons to discover what created Hutchins' abilities. Coulson refused to allow Skye into the Cage to speak with Hutchins, calling it too dangerous. Skye argued that Hutchins was nothing more than a sweet, innocent person.

"Hart can stay with me in case Hannah uses her powers to make a water bottle fly at my face."

"I'm sorry, Skye. She's staying in that room and you need to stay out of it."

As she left the room in frustration, Coulson looked at Elena. She was twirling one of his trading cards between her fingers.

"Is it time for one of our talks?"

"Nothing to talk about."

"I know this makes you think of Oliver. You made the right call that day. There wasn't any other option."

"There was but I didn't try hard enough."

"Wearing that is just living in the past," he said, indicating her bracelet.

"No. It's a reminder that there's always another option. I don't regret saving Director Fury that day. If I hadn't, I'd be living a very different life. I regret letting it get that far and ignoring all those signs for help. Just hearing what she said in the Cage and seeing that mob today…it reminded me of him."

Coulson put his arm around her shoulders. "We all have those bad moments in our pasts. Instead of letting it control us, we use it to make us stronger."

She winced when his fingers brushed over her neck. Pushing back her hair, he looked at the bandage.

"What happened to your neck?"

"From my fight with Moore. He scratched me pretty deep."

"Let's put a new bandage over it. We don't want it to get infected."

Elena followed Coulson down the staircase. On their way to the supply closet to grab the first-aid kit, they heard Simmons scream from inside the lab. Simmons was on the floor, panting heavily. The hologram table was cracked by a blunt object. Catching her breath, Simmons explained that Hutchins did not possess any telekinetic abilities. The cause of the accidents was someone else, a ghost of a man that was now on the plane. Before they could question Simmons about the ghost's appearance, thinking that it was somehow related to Hutchins, the plane lost power. The backup generators started up, providing a bit of light to the corridors. Feeling the plane nosedive towards the ground, they strapped themselves up in seats along the wall. May managed to land the plane in an open, grassy field. Elena opened the nearest supply closet, taking out flashlights and walkie talkies.

May, Skye, and Ward descended down the staircase. With most of the power directed towards the Cage, Hutchins was safe from harm. Skye offered to speak with her about the situation. Elena decided to go with her for protection. While they stayed with Hutchins, Coulson ordered Ward and Simmons to find Fitz and May to perform system checks on the plane while he used the emergency transceiver to contact headquarters. Elena and Skye walked towards the Cage, keeping in contact with the others through a walkie talkie.

"We found Fitz," said Ward.

"Keep an eye out for the ghost."

"Ghost?" she heard Fitz say, panicked.

"If you feel a change in temperature, he'll be close."

"He's more trapped between this world and another...not really a ghost, I suppose," said Simmons.

"Well whatever he is, he can disappear in the blink of an eye. All three of you, be careful. If you need me to meet with you—"

"I can handle it," interrupted Ward, making her roll her eyes.

"Ignore him. He doesn't want to admit that having you as backup would be a good thing" whispered Skye.

Skye sat against the door to the Cage. "Hannah? My name's Skye. We haven't met yet. My friend Elena's here too. We're going to make sure you're safe."

Hutchins thought that the demons haunting her caused the crash. As Skye comforted her, Elena stood at the end of the corridor, holding her gun. She closed her eyes tightly, relying on her other senses to feel the ghost. Her concentration was broken by May walking into the corridor. The emergency transceiver was broken and Coulson needed Skye's help to fix it. May promised to stand guard with Elena in case they encountered the ghost. Elena took Skye's place.

"Hey Hannah. How are you feeling?"

"Scared."

"Whatever this is…it can't get you in that room. You're safe."

"Demons can always get through. This is God punishing me."

"I don't believe that. I grew up in a town like yours. All that stuff about God was beaten into my head since I was able to talk…and I guess one day, I just stopped believing in it. Someone close to me felt the same as you. He thought he was being punished and he couldn't understand why. Strange things kept happening…it got so bad that he wasn't himself anymore. He was completely broken inside. This isn't God, Hannah. It's—well, it's not easy to explain but God wouldn't punish someone like you. None of this is your fault."

There was a loud crash upstairs. May walked down the corridor to check on the noise. Fitz was speaking through the walkie talkie. The so-called ghost was disappearing more each time he traveled between the two worlds. He attacked them to gain access to the Cage, wanting to see Hutchins. Simmons suggested that in enough time, he would vanish from their world completely. May returned to the Cage.

"I know you're thinking the same as me," she said to Elena.

"Coulson won't be happy."

"It's the best plan. He won't be far behind. He just vanished."

Elena opened the door and led Hutchins off of the plane. They brought her to a disheveled barn. Their plan was to draw out the ghost, using Hutchins as bait. If they stalled him, he would disappear to the other world before he could harm her. May ordered her to divert the team if they arrived at the barn. She kept watch in the back while May stayed by the front entrance. Peeking into the barn, she saw a man materialize out of nowhere. He was one of the victims from the particle accelerator explosion, Tobias Ford. From Skye's research, they learned that he had been the technician complaining about loose bolts, filing multiple reports in a single month. Elena shot at the ceiling of the barn to distract him. May tackled him into a paddock door. While May fought with him, Elena hid Hutchins behind a hay bale.

"You need to stay here."

"How is Tobias—I don't understand."

"It'll be okay. I'm not leaving your side, Hannah."

Tobias knocked May to the ground with a plumber's wrench. "Don't move from this spot, Hannah."

"But—"

Elena threw a bucket at his back. As he dodged it at the last second, Elena tackled him to the ground. He vanished from underneath her. Standing up, she closed her eyes and listened for any sudden changes in her surroundings. Feeling a gust of wind near her left side, she swung her leg back, making contact with his chest. Fighting him was difficult when he repeatedly vanished and reappeared in a different spot. Grabbing her by her jacket collar, he threw her roughly into one of the paddocks. She rubbed the side of her head. Ford was dragging Hutchins out of the barn. May swept his leg and punched him in the chest. She helped Elena out of the paddock.

"Are you hurt?"

"No. Feels like I got hit by a truck but I'll live."

Ford lunged at both of them, knocking them into a pile of hay. One of the support beams broke, swinging towards Hutchins. He moved in front of her, allowing himself to be struck by the beam. Hutchins was shaking from head to toe. Elena rubbed her back, comfortingly. He lifted himself up weakly, sitting on his knees.

"Tobias, wait. They're friends," insisted Hutchins, stopping him from raising the wrench.

Ford assumed that he was trapped between this world and Hell. He confessed that he purposely loosened bolts on the accelerator to get Hutchins' attention. His actions were due to nothing more than a crush. When he witnessed the town blaming Hutchins for the explosion, he decided to protect her. He begged for her forgiveness.

"You can't undo what's been done. That will be with you forever but trying to hold onto this life…clinging to the person you thought you could be. That's hell and you're dragging her down with you," said May.

One of Fitz's golden retrievers, a tracking drone, hovered outside the barn. "You need to let go. If you don't, it's not going to end well. Holding onto the past will only make the pain worse," said Elena.

"If you care about her and I know you do, let her go. Let the girl go, Tobias."

He held onto Hutchins' hand. Seconds later, he vanished in a wisp of black smoke. Ward and Skye helped a stunned Hutchins out of the barn. Coulson walked towards Elena as she brushed hay out of her hair.

"You don't ever do that again!"

His shouting made her jump in shock. "Coulson…" started May.

"Solo mission? That's fine. You're by yourself. You don't do that on this team. We look out for each other and that doesn't mean you take matters into your own hands. Do you understand me?"

Though he was giving her a stern lecture, his eyes and the tremor in his voice showed his underlying concern. When he was her superior officer and they worked together on missions, he never liked leaving her alone. She had gotten used to making her own decisions that she forgot what it was like to be with Coulson as a team. Giving him a slight nod, she walked back to the Bus. She sat on her bed and reached under the pillow, pulling out a torn picture. In the picture was a sixteen year old her standing beside an eighteen year old boy with disheveled dark brown hair. The boy had his arms around her. On his wrist was a leather bracelet.

"Hey."

Skye was outside the door. "Simmons is making some tea after our ghost adventure. Do you want some?"

"Sure. Is Hannah okay?"

"Yea, she's asleep in my bed."

Simmons, Fitz, and Ward were in the kitchen, eating snacks. They listened to Fitz recount fighting off the invisible Ford with a mop.

"Fitz, that never happened," said Simmons.

The fire was flaring underneath the kettle. Elena gripped the edge of the counter, counting backwards in her head.

"Hart, you believe me, right?"

She snapped out of her daze. "I don't think a mop is the best weapon. It would've been more believable if you said a wrench."

"Fine, don't believe me. The next time you lot are in danger, you'll regret it when I don't help you."

"By what, screaming like a girl? You should've seen him when we discovered one of his pranks. He was more scared than any of us," teased Skye.

Simmons poured tea into several cups. Reaching for a cup, Elena felt a slight burn in her wrist. She removed her bracelet and was surprised to see electric sparks bouncing off the leather. Hiding the bracelet in her back pocket, she noticed Ward staring at her. Hoping that he did not see the inside of the bracelet, she avoided eye contact and laughed at Skye's imitation of a frightened Fitz…


End file.
